September 2nd - Fly from Salt Lake City, UT to Boise, ID. I was lucky to spend a couple days with my family.
September 3rd - Family photos and Tucker's baptism. As soon as Tucker's baptism date was set, Mom began planning for family pictures. We had the photo session in the morning. Tucker's baptism and confirmation was held in the afternoon. He was baptized by his dad, Jed, in the Eagle, ID Stake Center on Eagle Road. Afterward, we went to Jed & Maria's for dinner & some pool time.
Back: Jed/Stella (7 mo.), Maria, Deven, Kim/Carter (1 yr.), Carlee, Kurt, Clay, Kristen.
Front: Hallie (1 yr 5 mo.)/Gil/Hannah (6 yrs.), Kathy/Tyler (9 mo.), Tucker (8 yrs.), McKayla (2 yrs)/Jessica/Emma (1 yr 9 mo.).
September 4th - Fly to Anchorage, AK. I went to church with my parents and then began my long flight to Cordova. I flew to Seattle and then Anchorage. I wouldn't fly out of Anchorage until very early morning, so I took a taxi to a hostel that I'd found online. It was very dark and rainy, so I didn't get to see much of Anchorage. Slept in the top bunkbed in a room with another bunkbed. There was another room with two additional bunkbeds and at least two more rooms - quite a houseful!
September 5th - Fly to Cordova, AK. I got up early and took another taxi to the airport - still dark and rainy. I flew into Cordova and James met me at the airport in the same red truck he'd driven to Alaska. His mom works at the airport, so I got to meet Sharon right away. We took a vehicular tour of Cordova and we were going to go out to one of the glaciers, but I fell asleep in the truck! Instead, we got settled at the McCalvy's and I got to meet James' sister-Kathleen, brother-Brian, Dad-Dick, three dogs, three cats and a bird. (James' sister-Beth, and Beth's son-Nick, live in another Alaska town. I'm looking forward to another Alaska trip and an opportunity to meet them!)
September 6th - Ferry tour & Haystack Trail. We took a tour of the new 'fast' ferry - the M/V Fairweather. There are only two ways to get to Cordova - by airplane and by boat. You can take your car, but you'd need the ferry to get it there. In the evening, we hiked the Haystack Trail - the trail winds up a hill through really dense trees and then arrives at the scenic overlook. It looks across several rivers and mountains and the ocean - at least I think you can see the ocean from there when it isn't cloudy. We took the three dogs and were standing at the overlook when Dick & Sharon came up. We all hiked down together.
September 7th - Salmon fishing & Mt. Eyak Ski Hill. I caught a 13 lb Silver Salmon! 
Brian actually caught the first fish (photo far left), but I think mine was the biggest for that day (photo near left)! James didn't catch any (this day), but he did unsnag my lure a couple times from the branches just under the water at river's edge. I felt like quite the accomplshed fisherwoman until it was time to clean the fish. Dick taught me how to filet! It is tricky with a slippery wet salmon - and there was a sealion waiting down in the water to eat my precious fish if I should lose my hold! We fished on the Eyak River - you just drive out of the McCalvy's driveway, down the highway just a smidge to a put-in. Then you can run the boat down the length of the river to the ocean.
This was the first day that the sun came out during my trip. A minor miracle! James & I enjoyed the clear evening by hiking to the top of the Mt. Eyak Ski Hill. It is immediately off of the ocean and above the town - with an incredible view of the ocean (picture below to the left) and its nearby islands. The ski hill has one chairlift - a single rider chairlift that was one of the original chairlifts 
at Sun Valley Resort in Idaho - my dad thinks he rode in that exact chairlift when he was ski racing as a teenager. From the top of the Ski Hill, James showed me where he likes to do some 'out of area' skiing on nearby mountains and then showed me where all the avalanches occur! We watched the sunset and the fast ferry steam out of the harbor.
September 8th - Crater Lake & Salmon Fishing. We hiked to Crater Lake in the morning. We brought the 
three dogs and a rifle in case of bears. It was a beautiful hike up a ridge with huge trees and wild blueberry bushes and waterfalls (the good part about a rainy climate). The lake, being in a volcano 'crater', is surrounded by ridges and feels very secluded. But, hike to the edge of one of the ridges and the view expands to include ocean and sky or more mountains. Once we reached the lake, we stopped for lunch. I took off my boots to test the temperature of the lake water (very cold!) and James did a bit of exploring. He came back for the rifle and said a black bear was headed our way. I barely saw its head above the bushes before the dogs began 
barking and chased it away. I put my boots back on in a hurry and we followed the bear's last known direction to see if we might be able to see him at a distance, but we didn't see it again. Instead we saw another black bear up on the ridge wandering along. It was far enough away that we used binoculars to really see it. That was definitely close enough for me!
In the afternoon we went fishing again. James caught the most fish (pictures above)! We took the boat down toward the ocean to see the duck hunting cabins that are built along the riverbank. My favorite had a sign on the porch that read "Duck on Inn". The wildlife along the river is pretty incredible - we saw bald eagles, a variety of other birds, seals, and of course, the salmon!
September 9th - Sheridan Glacier, Salmon Fishing & Volleyball Games. Rainy again. We went out to the Sheridan Glacier in the morning (picture to the left was taken on 9/10 from the Copper River Highway). In the afternoon, I caught two more salmon and got to practice my new fish-filleting skills. We also went to Kathleen's JV volleyball games at the high school. Her team won! It is the only high school in Cordova and one hallway is lined with pictures of every senior in every graduating class. I got to see the Senior Year photograph of Sharon and each of her siblings, James, Beth, and Brian.
September 10th - Childs Glacier, Volleyball, the Harbor. We finally made it to the end of the Copper River Highway to see the Childs Glacier and the Million Dollar Bridge. It is called the Million Dollar Bridge because it cost just over $1M to build it in 1908. Then in 1964, the end section fell during a 9.5 earthquake! The bridge was finally completely repaired in 2005 at a cost of $19M! On a family history note, Dick & Sharon McCalvy were married near the Million Dollar Bridge on July 4, 1976.
Childs Glacier, across the Million Dollar Bridge, runs right up against the Copper River. The water undercuts the ice and large pieces fall into the water, creating waves that cross the river to the day park on the other side. The ice is about 300 feet high and I learned a lot about glaciers from the informative displays. Have you ever heard of an ice worm?
I love Cordova's varied geography - the rivers and mudflats, the mountains and glaciers, the lake and ocean. We also watched Kathleen's volleyball team win again and wandered around the harbor and educate me on the different kinds of fishing boats.
September 11th - Church and blueberries. The branch building was under 
construction during my visit, so we had church in the elementary school cafeteria. I enjoyed visiting with the ladies in Relief Society. I told one group about learning to filet salmon from James' Dad. They told me "If you know how to filet a fish, you can have any man you want!" In the afternoon, James & I picked blueberries from the wild bushes just outside their house so that I could take wild salmon and fresh Alaska blueberries home with me. Yum!
September 12th - Anchorage, AK. James and I flew into Anchorage and spent the day being tourists. 
We learned more about the 1964 earthquake, went to a couple different museums and a gold smithing place. We met up with Sharon & Brian (they came out on the ferry) and took a drive out to see the Anchorage Temple before they dropped me off at the airport. During my night flight from Anchorage, the pilot gave his talk about flight time, cruising altitude, weather in Seattle and "if you can see out the left side windows, you'll see the aurora borealis." What a perfect finale to a very fun Alaska adventure. The picture is from the Michigan Tech Geological & Mining Engineering & Sciences Website: www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora
September 13th - Fly to Boise, ID and SLC, UT. My sister, Kristen, and her daughter, Emma, met me at the Boise airport. I had a long enough layover to enjoy lunch with them and my parents. For the final leg back to Salt Lake City, I switched airlines. The new airline would not let me check my fish/blueberry box. So I hauled the fish box through the Boise airport and onto the plane as carry-on. I got lots of "Were you just in Alaska?" comments and talked about my trip the whole way home.
James stayed behind in Alaska for another month. Another long month, but the communication was much better now that a satellite phone was no longer necessary!